Number arrested in China for 'endangering state security' soars

China arrested almost 1,300 people on state security charges in the restive north-western region of Xinjiang last year, state press has reported.

The figure, which was announced at an official meeting in late December, is nearly double the total of similar arrests for the whole of China in 2007. It has startled outside experts who say the figure has yet to be verified.

The Procuratorial Daily reported that the arrests came as the government made "maintaining social stability" a priority, with Beijing's hosting of the Olympics. A wave of attacks – blamed by officials on Uighur separatists – broke out days ahead of the games.

They included a raid on police headquarters in Kashgar which killed 17 ­officers. Two Uighur men were sentenced to death for the crime last month.

About half of Xinjiang's 19 million inhabitants are Uighur Muslims, who complain that the central authorities have stripped them of religious and cultural freedoms.

The newspaper said 1,295 people were arrested on suspicion of endangering state security last year. All but 141 were formally charged and faced trials or administrative punishment. It added that judicial authorities were ordered to "strike hard on the three forces of terrorism, separatism and religious extremism that endanger state security".

The charge of endangering state security applies to alleged subversion or "splittism" and its incitement, as well as to offences such as espionage.

Xinjiang officials refused to comment when the Guardian asked if the figures were correct.

Nicholas Bequelin, an expert on Xinjiang at Human Rights Watch, said: "The numbers are so incredibly high that this would be a real turning point [if correct]. It is possible they are talking about the total number of convictions under the campaign against the 'three evil forces', including things such as illegal religious assembly. About half the state security arrests in previous years were from ­Xinjiang; that was already high."

He added that the antiseparatist campaign weighed heavy on Uighurs. "It's not a yellow line that you should not cross … they have to positively demonstrate their opposition to separatism; they have to say so publicly in meetings and study sessions."

Critics accuse the authorities of using claims of terrorism to suppress peaceful support for independence and wider expressions of cultural identity in ­Xinjiang over decades.

But restrictions have tightened noticeably in the wake of last summer's violence. During Ramadan last year several areas ordered officials to deter mass prayers or banned government employees and Communist party members from fasting, wearing veils or growing beards.

Last spring the US-based Dui Hua Foundation, which intervenes on behalf of ­Chinese detainees, reported that nationwide arrests for endangering state security rose to 742 in 2007 – the highest number for eight years. It added that political arrests had doubled between 2005 and 2006.

The foundation said the charge, which replaced that of "counter-revolution" following legal reforms in the 90s, was primarily aimed at suppressing political dissent.

State media reported today that the authorities had fined three British geology students 20,000 yuan (£2,000) for "illegal map-making activities" in Xinjiang. The students, from Imperial College London, had been researching fault lines with the permission of China's Earthquake Administration.